On December 6th (Tuesday), EVE Online announced yet another Peak Concurrent Users record broken. It was reported that at 8:33 on December 4th, 18,148 people were online together at the same time. To get the scoop, click here.

Also on December 6th (Tuesday), Perpetual Entertainment, the makers of the MMORPG, Star Trek Online, released a large amount of research data conducted about the game. The surveys covered everything from desired playable races, to features. click here.

By far, the most talked about event of this week happened on December 8th (Thursday). Dark and Light opened registration for their prequel game, “Settlers of Ganareth”, and the keys went at an alarming rate. To get the story, click here.

To the Editor

OK, I realize that this wasn’t sent to me as a letter. Just, with the holidays quickly approaching, I wanted to try to bring that spirit to our little weekly newsletter. It seem that we have a poet in our midst here at MMORPG.com. Our member, Wepps, has brought some holiday cheer to that galaxy far, far away. Personally, I thought the classic “'Twas the Night Before Christmas” needed updating anyway.

'Twas the month before Christmas, when all through the town,Not a creature was stirring, the servers were down;The questions were posted in the forums with care,In the hopes that Thunderheart soon would be there.

The children were playing a whole different game,While visions of Night Elf chix kept them away;And Tom in his composite, I in my RIS,Were debating the plan for today's hunting bliss.

When out on the chat room arose angry chatter,I sprang to the website to see what's the matter;Away to the patch notes I flew in a tick,And barfed up my pancakes, I knew I was sick.

The thread it was ugly with new posted gripes,I tossed down some Pepto to settle my pipes;When what to my wondering eyes should appear,My Ranger was missing, and with all his gear!

"A respec, that's it?" I said in hoarse voice,I knew in a moment I just had no choice;More rapid than eagles the Jedi they spawned,They whistled and shouted, and were instantly pwned.

Now CH, now Carbineer, now Ranger and Doc,And Pistoleer, Rifleman, Squad Leaders mocked;To buy a new game, they went off to the mall,They dashed away, dashed away, dashed away all.

Take a look at the whole poem, Here. So what do YOU think of this newly crafted holiday classic? Let us know, here.

Off the Boards...

This week, “Off the Boards” is going to focus on what is without a question, the hottest forum topic in the last week: Dark and Light. On December the 8th, NPCube released 10,000 “Settlers of Ganareth” keys. The keys were gone within a rumored 1 minute and 20 seconds. This has led our readers to question or defend everything from the game’s practices where it relates to this prequel, Settlers of Ganareth”, to the game’s features.

It also seems that a good number of people (including people who pre-ordered the game to get a Pioneer Package) expected to be able to get into the game on the 8th, which was not the case.

Below, you will find a sampling of what people are saying:

I am furious. I was lied to. Simple as that. I paid $59 for my pioneer key. I was told i would be able to download before everyone else. I was told i would be able to download and play on the 8th. – Drokar

I signed up to be a beta tester years ago. And then I finally got the email a few months ago and decided to be a pioneer. I’m not to upset that I couldn’t play today. What I am upset about is no explanation. The site is basically shut down. And the only response I get is, We are sorry, but there are no more spaces left for the first wave of Settlers. – xtccrush

You guys, honestly, what did you expect? NPCube probably didn’t anticipate this amount of traffic, and, well, they got it. I didn't buy a key because I KNEW this would happen. You're better off waiting it out. – Sicarim

As you can see from this brief sampling, our readers seem to be up-in-arms about this particular topic. What remains to be seen, is whether or not any of the fears or cynicism about this game have a basis in reality. Only time will tell.

If you would like to contribute to this already busy forum thread,click here.

Game of the Week

The goal of ROSE Online is to “learn more about your role as a Visitor, and take part in the active world of R.O.S.E. Online as the story unfolds”. The game itself allows players to travel to seven different worlds to “do quests, kill monsters, and make friends. While attending the Austin Game Conference, our very own Laura Genender had a chance to catch up with David Kim from Gravity Interactive’s game. What do you think?

PvP:A shortened way of saying Player Vs. Player. Player Vs. Player refers to a style of gameplay where one player has the ability to compete directly against (usually killing) other MMORPG players. This is a feature that does not appear in every MMORPG and is generally hotly debated. Note:I received a lot of mail and feedback about last week’s Gamer to English segment. Many of you wrote to tell me that the origin of the term comes from MUDs, arguably the grandfather of MMORPGs. Then, it was a term that was used to describe any mobile object. Since then, it has evolved into the killable definition that applies strictly to MMORPGs. Thanks to everyone for the input.